Ultrarunning, traveling, writing, and adventures from the RD of the Burning Man Ultramarathon.

25 February 2010

Bigelow Tea Social

I feel bad because I never properly blogged about the wonderful Bigelow Tea Social I went to last month. It was a really fantastic night, and I was surprised at what a great time I had.

I'm a pretty big tea drinker. I like the ritual of it; the steeping, the pouring, the sweetening of tea. I love the whole process and enjoy every delicious moment. I hate getting tea on the go and drinking it out of a paper or styrofoam cup. I guess for that reason, that's why I like.

I'll be honest - I wouldn't say I was a dedicated Bigelow Tea drinker before the event. I have some really delicious high-quality loose tea, but when it goes for boxed tea, I have a few favourites:

I must admit, I've always been a big Celestial Seasonings fan, especially after I visited their tea factory in Boulder (which is actually a lot of fun; even my non-tea-drinking-at-the-time-ex-boyfriend loved it!). However, I learned a lot at the Bigelow (including at how Celestial Seasonings Teas are not tightly packed and won't last long), and how they tend to use tea crumbs instead of full leaves (which obviously have a fuller, richer flavour).

We started out the night chatting with Cindi Bigelow, the granddaughter of the founder. We had tea, and I tried the most amazing tea -- Constant Comment! I can't believe I never had this before, and must admit it's now one of my favorites! I also tried a Vanilla Tea, which while it was good, I went back to Constant Comment. (Yes, I had two cups of it!) There were also tea sandwiches (which I've never had before, and I must admit the cucumber and butter sandwiches were not as fab as I thought (I'm not the hugest butter person) but were quite dainty. The scones were phenomenal and I loved them.We chatted about tea, about how we prepare it, the history of tea. Then we began to do some taste testing, trying different kinds of green tea, black tea, peppermint, chamomile. I was won over by the high quality of Bigelow Tea, especially with the richness of the flavours which greatly overshadowed the much weaker teas of their competitors.

After, we had wine, chocolates, desserts, and of course, more tea. It was a truly lovely night.We were sent home with various samples and a tea book. It was a really lovely night.

2 comments:

I love tea. Actually, I have about 8 different kinds of tea in my pantry, but only one type of Bigelow tea, (lemon green tea); I'll try more. By the way, I haven't considered touring a tea factory, but now I'm dying to.